


Shards of a bloody smile

by amako



Category: Naruto
Genre: Angst, Canon-Typical Violence, F/M, Future Fic, Major Character Injury, Naruto Secret Santa 2017, POV Outsider, this is filled to the brim with headcanons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 08:08:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,133
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13142529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amako/pseuds/amako
Summary: "He sees her crossed eyes, the skin around the wound getting redder and threatening to reopen, and he feels a hurt he's unfamiliar with curl up in his stomach."





	Shards of a bloody smile

**Author's Note:**

  * For [chinarai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinarai/gifts).



> I really hope you like it! I want to write more about this but unfortunately I did not have the time. Later, tho, I'll definitively write an expansion if you're interested.
> 
> Prompts: 1. shikasaku: any kind of romantic interaction between them. 2. bamf sakura 3. anything shikamaru 4. sai getting some love from his teammates.

There is blood on his face, a cloud of dust blocking his senses and letting him choke on it. It's all too much and Sai fears he won't be able to get up. The rumble of the falling concrete is still echoing around him when the dust starts to settle and allows him to look around. Sai coughs, his dry mouth making him gag when he can't draw in enough air. He's relatively uninjured, which he's thankful for, because getting out of the explosion radius seems hard enough as it is.

He's bleeding from a cut on his forehead, and it keeps getting into his eye no matter how much he wipes it. Sai knows there isn't much he can do at the moment, so he gets up and he tries to think. Sakura was a few metres ahead of him when the explosion blew half of the facility on their heads, and he has no idea if she was able to move to cover in time. He seriously hope so. He's not equipped to handle grief, he simply isn't.

Coughing again, he starts digging a path through the fallen walls, thankfully blown up in small enough bits that he can safely move them. He thinks he's facing the right way, but there just isn't enough clues around to assure him of it. His senses are all over the place, his beating heart pounding so hard he can't concentrate on locking into Sakura's chakra signature.

Sai doesn't need to, in the end. As he removes another piece of broken stone, a rough shout echoes in the corridor. It's distant, but it confirms his initial thoughts: Sakura is ahead of him, and he's digging the right way. It's only a matter of minutes before he gets to a cleared out area, probably the result of Sakura's incredible strength. The sigh leaves him nauseous.

She's standing against the wall, hands on her hips and head bowed back like she's watching the ceiling. Her heaving breath and chalk-white face tell a different story. So does the splatter of blood under a nearby block of concrete and the glaringly obvious absence of her left leg. The limb has been grossly cauterised, just enough to stop the blood, but the purple tint of her skin doesn't bode well. Her leg stops just above her now missing knee.

Without looking at him, Sakura swallows visibly and curls her fists.

 

"Sai, good. I'm glad you're okay."

 

He doesn't know how to answer. What is the standard procedure when you're teammate apparently amputated her leg?

 

"I'm going to need your help."

That, he can do. "What can I do?"

"Draw me a leg. Something strong, to support my weight. Don't bother with fitting it, I just need to be able to walk on it."

He frowns. "That will leave me unable to aid you in a fight."

 

She finally looks down, and the pallor of her face only makes her eyes bigger.

 

"Do the math too, if you want. In this situation, I'm the most useful in combat. You're long range, and we're stuck here until we find Shikamaru."

Sai doesn't understand why his teeth are clenching. She's right. "Alright. Give me a minute."

 

She nods and looks up again, her breath carefully monitored. Sai tries not to think of his own uneven breathing and rolls upon a scroll. This is the kind of drawing he simply cannot mess up. He does as she asked, wincing in sympathy as the mere thought of her having to put her weight on this, because it's going to hurt a lot. Then he infuses chakra inside the drawing and lets it settle under the stump.

Sakura carefully puts pressure on the ink and he sees her biting back a groan. Her skin takes an even paler shade, if it's possible, and she starts to sweat. But she keeps going, until she's settled into the false limb and she takes a step forward. She doesn't fall. Apparently, it's good enough for her because she gestures for him to follow and she keeps going in the direction they had chosen before the explosion triggered.

Sai can't shake the feeling that he should have insisted to lead the mission, to carry her until they reach their goal. He sees her crossed eyes, the skin around the stump getting redder and threatening to reopen, and he feels a hurt he's unfamiliar with curl up in his stomach.

Suddenly, Sakura speeds up and her eyes take on a frantic shine. Sai focuses on the mission again; she must have felt Shikamaru's chakra, much more familiar with it than he is. The distant pull of his drawing it now taking up most of Sai's attention and he doesn't see the guard until the man flies past him and crashes into the wall behind. The second one crumbles down after Sakura punches her way through his ribs.

The door they were guarding is a monster of metal and rivets, probably chakra suppressant too. Sakura rips it open and slams it into the ground. Then she marches on, leaving dents into the metal, until her shadow grows to reach Shikamaru's bound form.

 

"Hello, darling. It appears we are late for dinner. I suggest we hurry, we wouldn't want the children to worry now, would we?"

 

Then she crushes the chains tying him to the wall, helps him get up and gently kisses his cheek. His wide eyes are mapping her face, after three weeks of capture in the hands of the small revolutionary faction, looking like it's the first time he lays his eyes on his wife. Then his gaze falls on the weird swirl of ink where her leg used to be and tears start to gather in the corner of his brown eyes. Yet he contains them and returns the soft kiss with a look of wonder on his face.

Sakura nods her head in his direction and Sai falls in line with them, doing his best to not let his control slip even for a second. The facility is empty; the sabotage squad they left Konoha with has taken care of the distraction to draw the guards out. He sincerely hopes so, because they're in no condition to take on the group of rebellious Iron ronin.

They finally reach the front door and Sakura headbutts the panel hard enough to knock it out of its hinges. The sun is hot on their faces, blinding where it reflects on the snow of the samurai country. She doesn't even stumble as she slips Shikamaru from her shoulder to her back, lifting him up effortlessly.

Sai watches Shikamaru fall in love all over again from where he's hanging of Sakura's shoulder, and he wonders if that's what marriage is about, after all.

 


End file.
